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Which park has the BEST wildlife encounters in all of East Africa? You’re about to find out. In 2024, I visited 12 national parks and conservancies while road-tripping through East Africa. During that time, I drove through herds of elephants, watched countless lions, cheetahs, rhinos, buffaloes, or hippos graze through our camps, and caught chance encounters with the elusive leopards, honey badgers, and bat-eared foxes of the continent.
These are the four parks that I would recommend to any traveler looking to plan the perfect DIY safari.
Let’s face it, as much as we want to, visiting all the parks is ridiculously expensive and time-consuming for the average traveler. These are the four parks where we saw the most wildlife and had the most impressive animal encounters. Additionally, camping within all four of these national parks is allowed and offers some of the most scenic campsites you’ll find in East Africa.
But this blog post is really all about the wildlife. I won’t bury the lead and I’ll start with my very favorite park in all of East Africa.
4 Best National Parks in East Africa to See Wildlife
For the purposes of this blog post, “East Africa” includes Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda, the four countries most often associated with safaris and wildlife in the region.
1. Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
- Absolutely heaving with big cats and predators.
Commonly Sighted Wildlife in Serengeti: Lions, Cheetah, Cape Buffalo, Elephants, Spotted Hyena, Kori Bustards, Giraffe, Wildebeest, Topi, Hartbeest, Eland, Dik-Dik, Southern Ground Hornbill, and Zebra.
Uncommonly Sighted: Serval, Black Rhino, African Wild Dog, Kudu, Fringe-Eared Oryx, Gerenuk, and Leopard.
I cannot overstate how perfect a self-drive safari in the Serengeti is. The expansive golden plains make wildlife spotting a breeze, and the sheer number of Cheetah and Lions within the park make it an absolute must-visit. And yes, I think it’s 100x better than the Mara. Why? Because of the lack of crowds and the ability to self-drive. ( In 2024, Maasai Mara National Park stopped allowing visitors to self-drive while simultaneously increasing thier ticket prices to $250 per person for 12 hours).
The Serengeti is sprawling. While the Central Serengeti region of Seronera can be plum full of safari vehicles, it’s very easy to lose the crowds without losing the wildlife. Especially for those who venture further afield into the heavily forested and leopard-friendly northern Lobo area. Another unique aspect of the wildlife within the Serengeti is their comfortability with people. Most of the encounters we had were quite close up.
Read More: A full guide to self-driving in the Serengeti.
2. Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Kenya
- The Big 5 and then some.
Commonly Sighted Wildlife in Ol Pejeta: Lion, Black Rhino, Southern White Rhino, Elephant, Chimpanzee, Reticulated Giraffe, Zebra, Cape Buffalo, Grant’s Gazelle, and Thompson’s Gazelle.
Uncommonly Sighted: Bat-eared Fox, Hippo, African Wild Dog, Hyrax, Aardvark, Northern White Rhino (pay extra to see), Leopard, Cheetah, and Spotted Hyena. Civet, Jenet, Caracal, African Wild Cat.
Located in central Kenya, this wildlife park is not managed by the Kenyan government or Kenya Wildlife Service but by the local community. And they have done a spectacular job. Not only is this park the only park in the world to have all three species of African Rhino, but it’s also one of the best places to spot the Big Five in a single day.
Ol Pejeta is home to the last two Northern White Rhinos on earth. Both are females and under 24-hour armed supervision. Currently, the conservancy is attempting to save the species through in-vitro fertilization. You can visit the girls by paying a hefty fee (they are the LAST two on earth, after all) or just enjoy spotting the two other rhino species out on the plains.
It’s not uncommon to see leopards near the river and full prides of lions moving across the vast savannah in the late evening as they wake to start their hunts. The reason I love Ol Pejeta so much is the diversity of wildlife you are likely to see in a single day. Also, the abundance. You’ll never drive past a field that’s not brimming with gazelle and antelope.
Read More: My favorite National Parks in Kenya Ranked.
3. Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda
- Bang for your buck park.
Commonly sighted Wildlife in Queen Elizabeth National Park: Hippo, Elephant, Lion, Leopard, Ugandan Kob, Red Monkey, Banded Mongoose, Side-Striped Jackal, Baboons (of course) Bush Pig, and Warthog.
Uncommonly Sighted: Sitatunga, Giant Forest Hog, Caracal, African Wild Cat, Civet, Jenet, Serval, and Spotted Hyena.
Uganda is East Africa’s most unsung safari destination. I’m unsure why the country has had far less publicity than nearby Kenya and Tanzania, but here we are. While Murchison Falls is the most commonly recommended by tour groups, I will argue tooth and nail that QENP is far better regarding wildlife sightings.
Read More: Best National Parks in Uganda for spotting wildlife.
But why does it land on this list? The bang for your buck factor. It costs $45 per person to visit QENP for 24 hours. During that time, you can (and should) focus on the Kasenyi and Mweya sectors of the park to see cacti-climbing lions, huge herds of elephants, and an abundance of hippos and Ugandan Kob.
You can join a boat safari to see elephants and hippos up close for $30 a person or a night safari to see Hyenas, Lions, and Leopards for the same price. This park gave us our closest encounters with Elephants and lions and was the ONLY park in East Africa where we managed to see leopards.
Read More: A self-drivers guide to Queen Elizabeth National Park.
4. Tarangire National Park, Tanzania
- Iconic “Africa”.
Commonly Sighted Wildlife in Tarangire National Park: Lion, Elephant, Zebra, Wildebeest, Warthog, Vervet Monkey, Southern Ground Hornbill, Eland, and Hartbeest.
Uncommonly Sighted: Leopard, Cheetah, Kudu, African Wild Dog, Spotted Hyena, Fringe-Eared Oryx, Gerenuk, and Rock Hyrax.
Tarangire National Park is pitched as this filler park, which few safari tours take the time to visit. As though it has little to offer in comparison to Tanzania’s other heavy-hitting parks. WRONG. Sure, if you’re only looking to see the big cats, then maybe this isn’t the park for you, but the abundance of wildlife here is astounding.
You’ll see vast desert expanses littered with lush watering holes and the thick, twisting trunks of Baobab trees. The landscape is filled with zebras, elephants, warthogs, wildebeests, giraffes, and more, all walking among one another. Tarangire is the Lion King, but in real life. Swap Lake Manyara (popular on many itineraries) with this park, and I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Read More: The Perfect 10-day Self-Drive Itinerary in Tanzania
A Few Bonus Parks to Add to Your List…
While these are, without a doubt, the four Best National Parks in East Africa when it comes to wildlife experiences, I have to give a shoutout to a few more iconic and incredible parks that, if you have the time and money, you should add to your itinerary.
Murchison Falls National Park (Uganda), Bwindi Impenetrable Forest (Uganda), and Ngorongoro Crater (Tanzania).
Murchison Falls is very near to QENP, and while it hosts much of the same wildlife, it also has an incredible waterfall view, AKA the park’s namesake. Bwindi is the best park to trek to Mountain Gorillas in if that fits in the budget, that is. Ngorongoro Crater, on the other hand, just might be the most unique national park in the whole region. The entirety of the wildlife sits within a volcano crater. Here, you can see an abundance of wildlife and camp on the rim of a massive volcano while doing so.
Read More: A Cost Comparison between self-driving and a guided safari tour.
Which East African Country Offers the Best Wildlife?
As you can probably surmise from the list above, we felt Tanzania had the most impressive wildlife within its parks. This is perhaps because of my desire to see the big cats and elephants. Uganda comes in at a close second for me, narrowly beating out Kenya. This has more to do with the price tag than the actual wildlife spotted.
The Cost Factor
Uganda is far cheaper than the other three nations when it comes to park entrance fees, activities, and camping within the national parks, which opens you up to more wildlife experiences. Rwanda comes dead last for us. Admittedly, we didn’t spend much time in the country after Volcanoes National Park. We spent one full day in the park (hiking) and didn’t see a single sign of wildlife. Add to that the park fees are two times that (at least) of the other three countries and we decided that our money would be better spent elsewhere.
The Crowds Factor
Kenya is the most popular safari destination we visited; you can feel it in the parks. While we LOVED Ol Pejeta and Samburu/Buffalo Springs, the cost, crowds, and signs of poaching we witnessed made it less impressive than Tanzania and Uganda.
The truth is, there was not a single park that I regretted visiting in East Africa. Each ecosystem gave us a unique experience and treated us to incredible moments with wildlife. But this endeavor took us two months and lots of park entrance fees. This short list of genuinely incredible wildlife parks would cut down your costs massively.
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